50 Years As A “Heartbreaker…”
That still stuns me. The rock band Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers turned FIFTY this year – a half century of classic rock!
This iconic band topped the charts with instant classics like “American Girl”, “Don’t Do Me Like That” and it all started with “Breakdown.”
Let’s celebrate first with their first big hit:
In this edition of “what I’m reading”, I want to share one of the most fascinating and honest memoirs about rock ‘n’ roll I’ve ever read: written by an original Heartbreaker – Lead Guitarist and Songwriter Mike Campbell!
This book is riveting. Campbell quickly sets up his childhood with shyness, and a love of guitar. He taught himself how to play through hours and hours of practice every day on a $15 guitar he begged his Mom to buy for him.
The book quickly introduces Tom Petty, a young Singer/Guitarist from Gainsville Florida. They meet, Tom forms a band, and there are great stories about how “Mudcrutch” played strip clubs and dive bars until Tom decided to take his dream of stardom to Los Angeles – and Mike went along!
That’s a very young Mike Campbell on the left. He and Petty formed an instant, lifelong bond – but as Mike recounts, once they hit LA, Tom made it clear the new band names would be Tom Petty AND…and with that, Toom Petty and The Heartbreakers was born.
Mike paints a terrific picture of the years they struggled to write songs, get a record deal and ultimately to break out – and after struggling forbears to get a record deal – how that deal almost destroyed them.
Now, a break for one of the catchiest songs that Campbell wrote the music for – enjoy “Here Comes My Girl”:
The book really delves into the making of the music, the world travels – and the lack of money the band was making even with two major hit albums – because of a lawsuit that threatened to end the band.
Campbell also shares lots of personal stories as well: how he met his wife, how she helped guide him through the turmoil of a band – and guess what? They are still married 40+ years later.
Mike gives insightful detail on making music, the hit albums, touring the world – and Tom’s drug addiction, recovery and Petty’s solo work as well, because Mike was there with him every step of the way.
Mike wrote music by himself at home – just the music, no lyrics. He built the songs by himself in layers before giving dozens of songs on tape to Tom to consider.
The Infamous “Jazzy” Note!
That leads to a hilarious story about how Tom turned down a song that Mike gave him because he didn’t like the sound of one chord, which he said sounded “jazzy.”
Well, former Eagle Don Henley was looking for a song to kick off his second solo album and was told to reach out to Campbell. Mike went to his home and played the song that Petty had rejected. Don listened, said a polite thank you for coming over, and Mike left.
The next day his phone rang. Don said it was the song he’d been looking for – he stayed up all night writing the lyrics for it – can he come over and record it now? It was Henley’s most successful solo single of his entire career – it was “The Boys Of Summer.”
After the song became a massive hit, Petty said to Mike: “it’s because you took the jazzy part out.”
HA!
Here’s the official music video, tell me if you hear a “jazzy” part!
A Story That Is PURE Tom Petty!
Here’s my favorite anecdote in the book: there were hurt feelings when the band’s new manager, hired by Tom, told the other four that Petty would 50% of all revenue, and the 4 would split the other 50% – Drummer Stan Lynch in particular was very upset – he was ultimately fired years later by Petty after constant fighting.
So…one day Campbell met with Petty alone and says basically, since he’s writing a lot of songs and the other guys aren’t, maybe he should get a slightly larger slice of the pie.
With zero irony, Tom says matter of factly:
“BUT I’M TOM PETTY.”
And that was it! End of discussion! The book is filled with great stories, a lot of insight on the songwriting process, and great stories like that – it’s just a blast to read.
Campbell was also part of the creative team behind Petty’s “supergroup” The Traveling Wilburys, would go on to tour with Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac, and after Petty’s untimely death, he formed his own band The Dirty Knobs – who just released a new album.
Petty did a few solo albums – but he always used all of the Heartbreakers, and Campbell gave him music that was used as well.
Here’s a song he co-wrote with Tom – “Runnin’ Down A Dream” – for Petty’s solo album “Full Moon Fever”:
Campbell’s recounting of the last year of Petty’s life is also honest and powerful.
I highly recommend this book – you will love it.
Since Petty’s death, unreleased music has been coming out – like a never-heard second album of music left off of his brilliant “Wildflowers” – here are some videos:
Petty also took part in two albums by The Traveling Wilbur’s, who were Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison and Roy Orbison – the result is music magic – click here to see the videos plus the hilarious story behind the name!
I recently shared the news of Chuck Negron’s death – he was one of the lead singers from Three Dog Night, a band massively successful in the 70’s – but boy did he have demons!
Click here to find out why his memoir was called “Three Dog Nightmare!”
Another classic rocker also shared his story:
Lead Guitarist Keith Richards wrote ALL of the great Rolling Stones songs – and they just released a new album, their second in a few years:
And remember they released a new song a few years ago starring the current Hollywood “It” Girl Sydney Sweeney:
Click here to see the terrific music video for “Angry”:
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A big “thank you’ to Mike Campbell for sharing the candid story of his life as a Heartbreaker – it’s fascinating.
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Categories: 70's Music, Art, Books / Media, Classic Rock, Memoirs, Music, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities
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